
Domestic Leagues
Daizen Maeda struck the winning penalty as Celtic defeated Rangers in the final of the Scottish League Cup while Son Heung-min created more history after scoring one and assisting two in Tottenham Hotspur's win over Southampton.
Saudi Arabia's Saud Abdulhamid also created history in Italy so join the-AFC.com as we take a look at how the Asian contingent fared across Europe this past week.
Germany: Lee stars as Mainz 05 stun Bayern
Two goals from Lee Jae-sung lifted Mainz 05 to a shock 2-1 home win over Bayern Munich, handing head coach Vincent Kompany his first league loss.
Lee scored in each half against an uncharacteristically poor Bayern, who are now just four points clear after Bayer Leverkusen's 2-0 win at Augsburg.
The home side struck shortly before half-time, Lee taking advantage of a poor clearance from his Korea Republic teammate Kim Min-jae to hammer home.
Even with the knowledge that Leverkusen were ahead in Augsburg, Bayern came out poorer after half-time, lacking precision and energy.
Mainz soon capitalised through Lee again. Armindo Sieb threaded a clever cross goalwards for Lee to collect before blasting home on the spin.
Leroy Sane tapped in a deflected Joshua Kimmich shot in the 87th minute to give the league leaders hope, but Mainz held firm for a famous home win as they moved up to sixth.
Centre-back Kou Itakura was on the pitch for the duration as Borussia Monchengladbach cruised to a 4-1 win over Holsten Kiel, with the victory taking them to 11th in the standings on 22 points.
Ritsu Doan played for 86 minutes as the Japanese star's Freiburg edged Wolfsburg 3-2 to move to 24 points and well within the European places.
Itakura's Japanese counterpart Shuto Machino went on as a 62nd minute substitute for Kiel, who remained second from bottom in the standings.
Australia's Jackson Irvine played all of St. Pauli’s 2-0 loss to Werder Bremen, with the result leaving them just a point clear of the relegation zone.
Japanese midfielder Koji Miyoshi was sent off in the 13th minute as Vfl Bochum held on for a 1-1 draw with Union Berlin, who had Korea Republic's Jeong Woo-yeong in their starting lineup.
Scotland: Maeda nets winning spot-kick as Celtic beat Rangers
Japan's Daizen Maeda scored the decisive spot-kick as Celtic beat bitter rivals Rangers 5-4 on penalties in the Scottish League Cup final on Sunday after a dramatic 3-3 draw.
Rangers midfielder Nedim Bajrami opened the scoring in the 41st minute after a mistake by Celtic left-back Greg Taylor.
Taylor made amends in the 56th minute when his drive deflected in off Gers midfielder Nicolas Raskin, whose mistake cost Gers four minutes later as Maeda fired in a second for the Hoops.
The Ibrox side rallied and levelled in the 75th minute through Mohamed Diomande.
Nicolas Kuhn restored Celtic's lead in the 87th minute only for Rangers substitute Danilo to level a minute later and take the game to extra-time.
There were no further goals and the game went to penalties.
Hoops goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel gave Brendan Rodgers' side the advantage by saving Ridvan Yilmaz's effort before Maeda beat Jack Butland to take the trophy back to Celtic Park.
In the Scottish Premiership, Apostolos Stamatelopoulos put in a sensational showing in his 82 minutes for Motherwell in their 4-3 win over Dundee United.
The striker scored twice in the first half before assisting his side’s fourth goal in the 67th minute. Stamatelopoulos' Australian counterpart Ryan Strain picked up an assist in his full game for Dundee.
Australian Josh Nisbet played 75 minutes for Ross County as they lost 3-1 to Hibernian. Martin Boyle was subbed on in the 80th minute for Hibs.
Kye Rowles and Cameron Devlin played full games in Hearts’ 1-0 loss to Kilmarnock.
England: Son shines as Spurs run riot
Son Heung-min scored one and assisted two as Totttenham Hotspur cruised 5-0 past bottom club Southampton.
Tottenham's cruise on the south coast was the latest chapter in a topsy-turvy season for Ange Postecoglou's men, who have now won seven and lost seven of their 16 top-flight matches.
James Maddison opened the scoring in 36 seconds, Son doubled the advantage in the 12th minute with Dejan Kulusevski adding the third two minutes later.
Son laid the way for Spurs' next two, scored by Pape Sarr (25th) and Maddison (54+4) as the London side moved up to 10th on 23 points with the assists making the Korea Republic star Tottenham's all-time Premier League leader for assists with 68.
There was, however, no joy for Kaoru Mitoma as Brighton dropped to ninth after a 3-1 defeat to Crystal Palace, with his Japanese compatriot Daichi Kamada coming on in the 60th minute for the London side.
Australian centre-back Cam Burgess played a full game for Ipswich Town as they beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1, who sent on Korea Republic international Hwang Hee-chan in the 75th minute.
Spain: Frustration for Kubo's Sociedad
Takefusa Kubo played for 67th minutes as the Japanese star's Real Sociedad had to settle for a frustrating goalless draw with Las Palmas.
The result moved Sociedad to 25 points as they sit in seventh spot.
Italy: Joy and despair for Abdulhamid
Saud Abdulhamid's Roma were shocked 2-0 by Como 1907 as the defeat left them on 16 points, just one ahead of their victors.
Right-back Abdulhamid, who created history by becoming the first player from Saudi Arabia to score in an European game when Roma defeated SC Braga in the Europa League group stage in midweek, was substituted in the 62nd minute while Australian goalkeeper Maty Ryan was on the bench.
Zion Suzuki also endured a losing weekend as Parma suffered a 3-2 home defeat to Hella Verona, with the defeat leaving the Japan custodian's side on 15 points.
France: Kang-in's PSG move seven clear
Lee Kang-in started as Paris Saint-Germain outclassed in-form Lyon 3-1 to extend their lead at the top of the Ligue 1 table to seven points.
Ousmane Dembele opened the scoring at the Parc des Princes and Vitinha added a penalty as PSG raced into a two-goal lead in what was expected to be one of the biggest tests of their credentials domestically this season.
Georges Mikautadze pulled one back for Lyon before the break but they never really looked like equalising and substitute Goncalo Ramos wrapped up the points for PSG late on.
Takumi Minamino's AS Monaco lost ground on PSG after being held to a goalless draw by Reims, who had Minamino's Japanese counterparts Junya Ito and Keito Nakamura in their starting lineup.
Japan's Ado Onaiwu started for Auxerre in their 2-2 draw with Lens while Jordan's Mousa Al Tamari played his part in Montpellier's second goal as they twice came from behind to hold Nice 2-2 but remained bottom of the standings on nine points.
Netherlands: Jahanbakhsh's Heerenveen shock Eindhoven
Islamic Republic of Iran's Alireza Jahanbakhsh featured for the duration while Iraq's Hussein Ali came on as a substitute as SC Heerenveen stunned leaders PSV Eindhoven 1-0.
Islamic Republic of Iran's Alireza Jahanbakhsh featured for the duration while Iraq's Hussein Ali came on as a substitute as SC Heerenveen stunned leaders PSV Eindhoven 1-0.
The shock victory moved Heerenveen up to 10th in the standings on 21 points.
Japanese full-back Seiya Maikuma played his part in AZ Alkmaar's 2-1 win over NAC Breda, with Australian Max Balard playing the full match for the losing side.
Japanese players were also key parts of their respective sides with Koki Ogawa, Kodai Sano and Kento Shiogai appearing for NEC Nijmegen while Shunsuke Mito featured for Sparta Rotterdam in their 1-1 draw.
Zidane Iqbal played the full match as his FC Utrecht battled to a thrilling 3-3 draw with Go Ahead Eagles, the point keeping them level with second-placed Ajax.
Photo: AFP